On My Own
by KymmaRaven
Summary: Kaden has a lot to worry about these days. A government that barely functions, cities that can't seem to remain standing, a friend who worries too much, enemies who don't know the meaning of surrender... and a dark curse that threatens everything he is and everything he will ever be. But how much can one hero really do on his own? (Hero side story. Alternate universe.)
1. Cursed

**REASON FOR THE RATING! In this story, there will be swearing, and lots of it. I cant guarantee that the F-bomb won't show up at some point, too. There will also be strong themes of suffering, death, depression, and the like, just like in Hero. Also, as with Hero, there will be violent battles, mentions of things such as child abuse, kidnapping, and torture, and so on. However, also like Hero, there will be no M-rated romance scenes. That means no lemons and no limes. Nothing like that at all. Lastly, there will be some smoking and drinking in this tale, but nothing extreme. And when I say smoking, I'm not referring to weed or anything of the sort. I'm referring to cigarrettes (though I'm not claiming that those are really any better). But, _g_ _enerally_ speaking, this story will be suitable for a teen audience, provided those teens are mature enough to handle blood. You have been warned.**

 **One last note. The line breaker says "Jibun de", meaning "On My Own". The only special thing you need to know to understand this story is that one of the main characters is a very old friend of Kaden's. I won't say more for the sake of avoiding spoilers. I will reveal more about this character in Hero first and foremost. Only then will the same things be revealed in here.**

 **~自分で~**

It had been a hundred and forty years since Sonic and the others had departed on the Blue Typhoon, leaving for space together, likely never to return. Two full centuries had passed since Ivo's fall. Kaden and Marthal alone had stayed. If not for the cat, Kaden would have been left totally alone. Left to his own devices, he might have been killed already by this point. So many battles had come and gone, and, had Marthal not been there, Kaden would have had to all fight them entirely alone. Granted, he still fought _most_ of them alone, simply because he didn't want to endanger his only remaining friend any more than was necessary, but even still. In a way, he really was alone.

The man who had once been his best and closest friend was gone. The only woman he'd ever loved and ever _would_ love was gone. His son was gone. All his friends (excluding the obvious one) and allies and acquaintances and companions were gone. They'd all left, and he doubted they were ever coming back. And, even if they did return someday, nothing would change. He would still be in constant danger all day every day, he would still have far more work to do at any given moment than he could ever hope to complete, he would still be pushing himself so far beyond his limits that Marthal openly questioned how his friend was alive, _just_ in order to keep this planet safe… And, throughout it all, he would still remain alone. He was truly on his own.

He was tempted to blame himself for his present circumstances. For all of this, really. He'd actually done it more than a few times, truthfully, though never out loud. Who else was there to blame, anyway? At least if the blame was placed on himself no one would care. No one… except Marthal, who staunchly and often angrily refused to accept Kaden's insistence that he himself was at fault. And, if he were being totally honest with himself, Kaden didn't truly believe it, either. That wasn't to say that he blamed Locke and the others, though. No, not at all. Truthfully, he didn't know _who_ was to blame. He wasn't even sure where all the problems and fights and whatnot that had caused things to get this way had even come from, let alone how they'd started or why and thanks to who. He supposed it didn't matter. The past was fixed, anyway. It was over, gone, and nothing remained but these moments right now and the future that he always fought so hard for to try to secure.

He didn't have time to be thinking about these things. He had so much work to do… and never enough time to do them. Various cities were all under attack at the same time (nothing unusual there), the idiots in the government were fighting about some stupid decision or other that they shouldn't have even been considering in the first place (that was so common by this point that he'd come to expect having to deal with it at least once a day), several notable figures in society had mysteriously gone missing and needed to be found (now _that_ was unusual), his weapons needed repairing… the list went on and on and on. As much as he didn't want to, it was time to get to work. Because after all…

 _There's no time like the present._

 **~自分で~**

Kaden gritted his teeth when he landed. It was a bone-jarring impact, but at least nothing was broken. He'd landed on his feet, too. _Things could've been worse._ Still, that explosion (caused by an exploding ship that he'd just destroyed) had knocked him into the ground with enough force to leave him feeling sore and a bit stiff. He shook it off as best as he could and stood from his crouch. Looking around, he noted the fresh damage already done to this poor, ruined city. Thankfully, the place had been abandoned long ago. But, even still, he knew he was going to be hearing about this later. Abandoned or not, the grouches in the government _hated_ it when any part of any city was damaged. _Like it can be helped, more than half the time._

He appreciated what the government officials were trying to do, to a point, and he did respect them for the most part, but, honestly, they got on his nerves. A lot. _Especially_ the man whom he and Marthal simply referred to as the general (so-called because he was once a renowned general for the world's best military forces, which had long since been destroyed). _He's the biggest grouch of them all… And his face turns as red as a tomato when he gets angry._ That last bit was a constant source of humor for Kaden and Marthal, but the yelling that went along with the face was far from pleasant. Even ignoring how badly it hurt Kaden's ears, it was still awful to deal with. He hated being yelled at.

Kaden began walking away from the spot where he'd landed just as, about forty feet behind him, the ship finally crashed into the ground, creating a small earthquake of sorts and making the whole thing explode into one giant reddish-orange fireball. With an idle motion of his hand, Kaden wiped out of the flames in order to keep the few plants that were still alive here from being killed. After that. He broke into a run. For the first time in months, he was headed home.

 **~自分で~**

Things were never easy. Not for him. Truthfully, he didn't expect them to be. But he'd never expected things to get so hard, either.

Kaden was exhausted. He hadn't slept in at least a few weeks. It had been even longer since he'd had the time to eat. He hadn't even been able to go _home_ in ages. He was constantly fighting, constantly injured, constantly running, constantly doing his very best to protect the world basically by _himself_ … And his life was getting to the point where this was _normal_. So normal, in fact, that he was starting to hardly notice these things. He supposed this was a bit concerning, but when did he ever have the time to care? For that matter, what was the _point_ of caring? It wasn't like he could change anything right now. Maybe he never could. He wasn't sure if he cared about _that_ , either.

There was, however, one thing he _did_ care about. Very much, in fact. There were two, technically, if he counted Marthal (which, of course, he did), but there was one other thing that was _far_ more concerning to him than his friend. This thing was a constant weight on his mind, a burden he'd been forced to bear against his will. It was a curse… quite literally. It was sealed now, sure, but how long would that even last? This seal was _not_ unbreakable, powerful though it was, and he was honestly afraid to think about what would end happen to him if the seal were to ever fail him.

This curse was one he'd been dealing for sixty years. Marthal was the only one who knew about it, and he wanted it to stay that way forever. No one else _needed_ to know about it. The only other people who would have once cared were long go, and he had no reason to hold onto even a tiny sliver of hope that they would care about this. Bevause, after all, caring about the curse meant caring about him (as the curse only affected him), and that was never going to happen again.

 _I'm done thinking about this._ Scowling softly to himself, Kaden focused his attention on his work. His sword desperately needed repairing… and it wasn't like it was going to fix itself. _I need to focus…_ But, even as he thought that, a warning that he often received in his dreams played through his mind yet again.

 _"_ _憎しみ。_

 _怒り_ _。_

 _裏切り_ _。_

 _痛み。_

 _闇。_

 _死。_

 _Nikushimi._

 _Ikari._

 _Uragiri._

 _Itami._

 _Yami._

 _Shi._

 _Hatred._

 _Fury._

 _Betrayal._

 _Pain._

 _Darkness._

 _Death._

 _These are the six triggers. These six things can and will awaken the curse and cause it to spread, allowing it the chance to overwhelm you and take you over. It creates these things in a person no matter how much they try to resist. It feeds off of them. Sooner or later, it will become too strong to control. Then you will lose yourself to its dark power. Its terrible influence will overtake you completely and change who you are, what you think, how you feel, how you act… The seal you bear now, the controlling influence you created and placed upon the curse, is the only thing preventing these horrible things from happening. You must never let that seal be broken, no matter what happens. If it should fail, there may be no saving you. Kaden, you must remember…_

 _Hell's Curse is not something to be trifled with."_

 **~自分で~**

 **1,562 words this time. And I hope you enjoyed this fairly depressing prologue-ish chapter. Posted 12-06-15.**


	2. Help

**Hello, nagato911! Yyyup. :l**

 **Hello, Snowy Meadow of Starlight! Yes, it's very sad. I agree. Poor Kaden... :( Yeah, it really is incredibly sad.**

 **Hello, PyroShockZ! Haha, yup. That's a fairly appropriate response. XD I'm so glad you did! Yeah, it really is! I won't spoil anything, but yes, they're alive. As stated in the last chapter, they went to space with all the others. :P Yes. It. Is!**

 **~自分で~**

 _Everything hangs in the balance..._

 **~自分で~**

Kaden, his arms up behind his head, sighed as he looked off to the side where his old friend, the only one he had left, was walking. They were traveling idly through their home city, walking on the sidewalk beside a wide, busy street. Tall gray buildings and equally gray pavement surrounded them, only broken by the occasional splash of color here or there. The noise of this place grated on his ears, but not so much his nerves. This place was familiar, after all, it was home, so he simply dealt with the unfortunate noise levels that went along with it. "Give it a rest, Marthal. I don't want to go to the movies."

"Oh, come on," Marthal grinned, his deep blue eyes as bright and happy as ever. His slim tail swished slightly with a bit of energy. "It'll be fun. You need to have some fun once in a while." When Kaden gave him a look, Marthal quickly amended, "Well, some fun that _doesn't_ involve reckless endangerment and potentially deadly thrills."

Kaden huffed and looked away again, returning his attention to the path ahead of him. The last thing he wanted was to end up walking into the street or something. "Yeah, whatever."

Marthal suddenly frowned at him. His normally happy demeanor had faded, and he was left looking and sounding far more serious than was normal for him. This would have been troubling if there was any hint of danger around, but there wasn't. As such, this shift in his friend's mood simply didn't bother him. "I'm serious, you know. You do that way too often, endangering your well-being and even your _life_ for the sake of what you consider to be 'fun'. That's not a good lifestyle. You could damn well end up _dead_ doing that crap."

"I could die on any given day, anyway," Kaden replied nonchalantly, completely unconcerned. What did it matter to anyone else how he lived his own life? It wasn't like they had any say in it. It wasn't like he _asked_ people to care. It was far easier for him to not _let_ them.

His response seemed to bother Marthal a great deal, if the cat's deepening frown was any indication at all. Which it probably was. "And you're _okay_ with that?"

"What's it matter, anyway?" Kaden asked, finally voicing some of his earlier thoughts. "It's my life. I can choose how to live it."

"That's not the point," Marthal retorted. "And risking it day in and day out is hardly living it."

"I don't have much of a choice about that, you know," Kaden responded dryly.

"You have more than you like to pretend you do," Marthal responded with a small snort. "If you'd actually let me _help_ you fight all these battles you get into all the time-"

Kaden finally looked at Marthal again. "Look," he said simply, "I don't need the help. I don't _want_ it. If you want to fight these guys too, then fine, go ahead, but I don't require any assistance. I can handle these things fine on my own."

After a long moment, Marthal stopped walking and released a heavy sigh. "You used to appreciate the help."

Kaden stopped walking a few feet ahead of him, his arms coming to rest at his sides. He didn't turn around to face the cat. "That was ages ago, Marthal. Things change. _People_ change. I felt like I needed the help back then. I know I don't need it now. Just let it go."

Another sigh. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"Obviously."

"It's not like you to be so serious anymore."

"Stop bringing up such serious topics and I wouldn't _need_ to be."

"Yeah, okay. You win, I guess. For now."

At this, Kaden finally smirked. "Don't I always?"

This provoked a laugh from Marthal. "Ass."

Kaden turned around and tossed him a grin. "The one and only."

Marthal laughed again. "Come on, let's go catch that movie."

"Alright, fine. But the moment it starts to get boring, I'm leaving." Kaden paused, then added, "And I'm taking the popcorn with me."

"You wouldn't dare!" Marthal exclaimed, pretending to be appalled by the possibility of Kaden stealing the delicious, buttery snack.

Kaden's grin grew. "Wouldn't I, though?"

"Ass," Marthal huffed in amusement.

"Yup," Kaden replied easily, unfazed. "That's me. But you love me, anyway."

Marthal rolled his eyes, though his humor was still obvious in his face. "Yeah, lucky for you."

Kaden's grin grew. "And I win again."

Marthal laughed again. "You really are an ass."

"Deal with it."

 **~自分で~**

 **815 words this time. Not a whole lot happened in this short, lighthearted chapter, but that's okay. I was basically just establishing the relationship between the two main characters, showing off the change in Kaden's personality, and so on. I accomplished what I wanted. Posted 01-28-16.**


	3. Flawed Savior

**Hello, StayyMoon33! I do, too. I agree that he's pretty cool. And yes, they do. :)**

 **Hello, nagato922! Thanks! :D**

 **~自分で~**

Kaden sighed a softly to himself. A thin trail of smoke drifted lazily into the sky from the stick between his index and middle fingers, and he watched it idly. It was chilly out here, being that it was only six in the morning and barely light out. Far below the rooftop he sat upon, cars of all shapes and sizes braved the chaotic streets, some stuck on the ground but many airborne. People milled about on the sidewalks, in the buildings, and virtually any other place one could think of to look for a person. It was time for people with ordinary lives to begin their day. His life was far from ordinary, though, and his day had never really stopped. He was merely taking a break from it for the moment. That was all.

He brought the cigarette back up to his lips and exhaled a moment later, watching as yet more smoke rose up into the air. This was such a terrible habit... but it wasn't like he cared much, if at all. It was a stress-reliever, so he saw no point in ceasing the behavior. Of course, if he told Marthal that, the cat would undoubtedly feel compelled to point out just how dangerous smoking was and how poorly one must be coping with stress to resort to doing such an act. But Marthal wasn't here, and he didn't know of this habit in the first place. Kaden fully intended to keep it that way. The last thing he needed was for Marthal to have one more reason to worry about him.

Kaden again looked down at the stick in his hand. It gave off such a foul smell, truly... It burned his nose and throat. And yet, he still took another drag off of it. _I've become such a masochist._ Though the thought wasn't really true, it was still a concept he didn't care to contemplate if it could be avoided. As such, he steered his thoughts toward other things. Like the fact that he was even smoking this thing to begin with. All meaningless excuses aside, this really was an act of stress for him. However, he hadn't even realized before just about ten minutes ago that he was even feeling any more stressed than he usually did. _Way to pay proper attention_ , he mentally chided himself. Taking one last drag, he stood up and incinerated that damn cigarette with his fire, leaving no trace of it behind. Well, that wasn't entirely true. He _had_ smoked the thing, after all, so of course there was some trace of it left. He was going to reek of it for ages now. And it was his own damn fault.

Ignoring that thought for now, he climbed down off the roof and into his apartment through his bedroom window, which he'd left open when he'd gone outside not long before. Once inside, he shut the window. He sat down on his queen-sized bed as he slipped on his black and blue shoes, which were nearly the same style as his old colorful sneakers. He then laid back on his bed for a moment. His comforter, sheets, and pillow cases were such a dark blue that they were nearly black. His bare walls were midnight blue, and his carpeted floor was nearly the same color. The whole room was dark, which appealed to his senses. The only problem was... the room was small. His bed took up most of the available space. The head of bed was against the wall opposite the door. It stretched from the left wall to the very edge of the window. Also against the left wall was his desk. It stretched from the foot of the bed to the wall the door was on. Directly across from it, up against the right wall, was a tall bookshelf. That was all the furniture he had in the room. And even with just those three things, there was no space left in the room, save for a walkway. This walkway went to directions. The first was from the door to the desk. The second was from the door, past the desk and bookshelf, alongside the bed, and straight to the window. It was so cramped in here... But, then again, it wasn't like he had the money to live anywhere else.

Finally, he got back up. Without much of a sound, he walked over to his desk, sat down, and opened his laptop. As always, it was time to do some research. There were always so much for him to dig up. Information he needed to know but the idiots in government were hiding, news articles about attacks he hadn't caught wind of on various cities, reports detailing new enemies on the rise... He sighed to himself. It was times like these when he honestly hated himself for not allowing Marthal to help him. But then he would always inevitably recall _why_ he didn't allow the help, and those thoughts would then cease. Marthal had already "died" once. Kaden wouldn't let it happen again.

Logging into his computer, Kaden all-too-easily hacked into the government's systems and began his work, making a mental note to get on their asses _again_ about how weak their security systems were. _Honestly, a child could hack into them without much effort..._ he thought in annoyance as he opened and quickly poured through numerous new files. Few of them held any interest for him, but a couple did. According to the latter two files, one of his old enemies was back in business and _promising_ to turn a new leaf, while another was _swearing_ they would help the World Government if he could be let out of jail. Kaden frowned disapprovingly. _Do they think I'm stupid?_ He knew they _government_ was filled to the brim with imbeciles, but that was why he intervened so heavily into their activities. There was no _way_ he was going to allow any of them to work with those enemies.

But, as it turned out, he once again had far bigger things to worry about than the ass-hats in power.

Frowning to himself, Kaden scanned the screen with his eyes, reading the latest file he had opened. "You have _got_ to be shitting me," he muttered to himself. He scrolled down, reading more and more into the list of crimes on the file. Crimes that the government claimed _he_ had committed. _Using dangerous weapons in public_ _, damaging public property, vigilantism, evading arrest... Those idiots! _Now properly furious, Kaden abruptly stood from his desk, printed a copy of the wanted poster, snatched the three pages out of the printer, and teleported straight to the World Government's main building itself. Marching up the stairs, he shoved open the doors. As expected, since he was apparently _wanted_ , tw security guards tried to grab him. "Touch me and I will break your goddamn arms," he threatened, never once looking at the guards or stopping his brisk walk. The guards seemed to take him seriously and quickly backed off. Not five minutes later, Kaden was marching into the office of the leader of the world's armies, a man he and Marthal both affectionately referred to as "The General". Neither had ever bothered to learn the man's name. "Care to explain this?" Kaden demanded as he slammed the papers down on the dark wooden desk.

The General set down his pen (he had been in the middle of writing something when Kaden had barged in) and picked up the papers to examine them as though he had never seen them before. And, judging by the sudden genuine smirk of glee that spread across his face, he apparently hadn't. Which meant that someone else was responsible for this for this bullshit, for once. "Someone finally got a clue and put your face on a poster? Oh, this is too rich."

Kaden glared at him. "Those charges are _false_ , you asshole, and you damn well know it."

"I'm not so sure," The General replied as he set the papers down in a neat pile on his ornate desk. "After all, I seem to recall you doing everything listed on these pages. You have started many fires in your near-daily fights, all of which you start or get involved in without having any of the proper authority, every single one of you fights causes a great deal of damages to buildings, cars, streets, and so on, countless cities are in a constant struggle to come up with the money to repair the damages _you_ cause..." The General inhaled, then exhaled with a pleased and smug smile. "I could go on," he rumbled in his deep voice.

Kaden scoffed and crossed his arms. "You know," he remarked casually, "there's a _reason_ why I call you an idiot." The smile dropped. "After all, you can never seem to see what's right in front of your face."

Now it was The General's turn to scowl. "And what might I be missing?" he inquired irritably.

Kaden turned and began to leave. "Without me, there wouldn't _be_ any cities left for the real enemies to destroy." Without waiting for a reply, he exited the room.

 **~自分で~**

 **1,568 words this time. A third chapter to help set the scene for this tale. Hope you enjoyed. Posted (at about 10:55 p.m.) 05-21-16.**


End file.
